Track & Field shows out at SEC Championships

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Courtesy of UA Athletics

Eliud Kipsang runs at the SEC Championships at the Ole Miss Track & Field Complex in Oxford, Mississippi.

Kenneth Jones, Contributing Writer

The Alabama Crimson Tide’s track & field team finished day three of the 2022 SEC Outdoor Track & Field Championships held at the Ole Miss Track & Field complex. 

The Alabama men’s outdoor track & field team took second place in the championships, while the women’s team took eighth. Both teams had notable individual performances. 

The Crimson Tide men tallied 116 points in total, trailing only Arkansas’ 121-point count. It’s the second year in a row in which Alabama finished as the runner-up for the SEC outdoor championships.

Leander Forbes, Corde Long, Demetrius Jackson and Khaleb McRae posted the second-fastest time in school history for the 4×400-meter relay with a 3:02:31.

The men earned five total medals on Saturday. Eliud Kipsang won silver in the 1,500-meter with a time of 3:39:09. Alan de Falchi and Jerimiah Evans won silver and bronze in the discus, throwing 58.49 meters & 57.68 meters, respectively. Long won bronze in the 400-meter hurdles with a school-record time of 49.59.

The women’s team finished with 46 points to take eighth place. Mercy Chelangat swept the long-distance events, the 5,000-meter and the 10,000-meter, for the second year in a row. 

Alabama head coach Dan Waters expressed his feelings for the team. 

“I couldn’t be prouder of the way our men fought from the first event to the last this weekend,” Waters said. “We had a number of amazing performances in both the men’s and women’s meet, and we’re looking to carry those over into the NCAA Championships.” 

Prior to the meet, Waters was asked about the team’s potential for a national championship. Waters noted the recent success of the program, and said that Alabama is “knocking on the door” of a national championship. 

Alabama will be at the NCAA East Preliminary for the first round of the NCAA Championships on May 25-28 in Bloomington, Indiana.